When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
